In 2015, John Chambers of Cisco said, “At least 40% of all businesses will die in the next 10 years … if they don’t figure out how to change their entire company to accommodate new technologies.” Nearly a decade later, his quote rings more true than ever. If modern companies want to survive, let alone succeed, they have to embrace IT continuous improvement.
The concept of IT continuous improvement is what allows businesses to adapt and thrive even while the world around them changes rapidly. The world of ten years ago looks completely different from a technological perspective, but organizations that were able to keep pace are still very much with us.
In this article, we’ll look at why IT continuous improvement is so valuable, how you can make it happen, and how DYOPATH can help.
What Is IT Continuous Improvement?
Continuous improvement is exactly what it sounds like — the practice of constantly assessing, analyzing, calibrating, and making ongoing changes over time to keep your organization running as effectively as possible.
In terms of IT, this might focus on things like data management, cybersecurity, software solutions, and improving efficiency. It’s important to tie IT improvement to your organization’s overall performance by considering how it impacts your customer service, cost efficiency, product development, and so on.
Why Is IT Continuous Improvement Important?
When you focus on IT continuous improvement, you’ll notice benefits in all kinds of areas. Here are some of the most common and important:
- More streamlined and efficient operations. As your IT infrastructure improves, you’ll find that your systems run more effectively, your team members are able to do their jobs more easily, and there is less friction, confusion, and error.
- Stronger security. Cybersecurity is one area where constant improvement is especially necessary since new threats are emerging all the time. Adopting a culture of continuous improvement helps you stay on top of your security and ensure your assets are always protected from the newest dangers.
- Better cost management. Continuous improvement in IT is all about tightening up inefficiencies, identifying areas that can be managed more productively, and getting more done with the resources and tools available. This all helps reduce costs while helping you manage the remaining costs better.
Focusing on ongoing improvement helps you stay at the cutting edge of technology, running a company that’s productive, efficient, and resilient in all areas, IT and beyond.
How to Implement IT Continuous Improvement
Now, let’s take a look at some of the key steps and best practices you’ll want to follow to implement a culture of IT continuous improvement in your organization.
Start With an Assessment
If the notion of IT continuous improvement is new to your company, it’s best to start with a wide-ranging assessment that looks at all your current processes, tools, skills, and main challenges. This will give you a great starting point to begin making changes and also give some structure and direction to the improvement process.
Be Ruthlessly Critical
A big part of successful improvement is being able to recognize areas that need to change, as well as being unafraid to acknowledge shortcomings. Even if your teams worked hard to implement a process or solution in the past, you should be able (collectively) to identify when it’s no longer working and be prepared to change it.
This attitude allows you to make the changes that are necessary for continuous improvement without getting overly attached to old processes and habits that could be holding your company back.
Work Together
All your IT teams — and to a certain extent, everyone in your organization — should be committed to continuous improvement and prepared to work together to make it happen. This might not be easy to achieve; it requires ongoing communication, strong leadership, and a culture of asking questions and respecting others’ concerns. Your team members should all be aware of the importance of continuous improvement and how it will make their jobs easier and more productive.
Make Changes in Increments
Continuous improvement, as the name suggests, is not something that happens overnight — it’s an ongoing process that takes place via many small steps. Making large, overarching changes all at once can lead to confusion and destabilization, and if things don’t work out, it can leave your organization in a tough predicament that will be difficult to recover from. Make small changes, test to see if they are working, and then adjust as needed.
Never Stop Measuring & Adjusting
Nonstop monitoring, tracking, and tweaking is a key part of IT continuous improvement. You should be aware of the most important metrics and KPIs to pay attention to — things like latency, key time to respond, and service availability — and pay constant attention to these so you can confidently assess the success of any changes you make and quickly notice any troubling signs. Continuous improvement depends on making ongoing adjustments based on data.
Don’t Lose Sight of Your Overall Business Goals
It’s essential to remember at all times that your IT infrastructure is there to support your higher business objectives. Your approach to continuous improvement should reflect this — always consider how the changes you make will impact areas like your bottom line, budget, operational efficiency, and customer experience.
DYOPATH’s Approach to IT Continuous Improvement
At DYOPATH, we’re strongly committed to the idea of IT continuous improvement, and we encourage all our clients to adopt this approach. This is why we developed our Strategic Technology Support Plan (STSP) — a highly sophisticated and streamlined process to guide businesses through the process of building a mature organization based on continuous improvement.
Our STSP is a core part of how we operate and embodies our deepest values when it comes to IT management. It’s designed to help you comprehensively assess your business; identify your key goals and challenges; put the right standards, processes, and tools in place; and build a more secure and mature organization.
If you’re interested in learning more about DYOPATH’s STSP and how we can help you adopt a culture of IT continuous improvement, schedule a call with us.
